Trinity Women's Rowing Wins First National Championship

Bantams Unseat Eight-Time Defending Champion Williams

Rose Lichtenfels' hands were shaking as she grabbed the oar. An opportunity four years in the making was upon her, but the ultimate goal was still a grueling 2,000 meters away.

"We had seen really big ups and really big downs over four years," said Lichtenfels, a senior on the Trinity women's rowing team. "Each year, we had been building, building, building. In rowing, everything is delayed gratification. The results are never right there in front of your face, but that day everything finally was."

Just over seven minutes later, with Lichtenfels having exerted herself to the point of blacking out — and Trinity having finished off a sprint that coach Wesley Ng predicted the boat would need — the Bantams made history by winning the first varsity eight race and the NCAA Division III championship, the first national title in program history.

On the choppy waters of Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, Ind., May 31, Trinity finished in a time of 7:06.33 and held a wild celebration, crying as they rowed back toward shore, then tackling one another in knee-deep water. Left disappointed — perhaps stunned — were eight-time defending national champion Williams, and Bates, which led the competition after winning the second varsity race.

Before the first varsity race, Ng, as analytical and numbers-driven as they come, had told his rowers they would be trailing heading into the final 500 meters and would need the closing sprint of their lives. That's how it played out. The Bantams settled into the middle of the pack, eventually nudging past every boat ahead of them, leaving Bates to finish fourth and beating runner-up Williams by less than two seconds (7:08.05). Wellesley was third, finishing in 7:13.08.

"I feel like it was a race that was a couple years in the making," said Ng, who has been Trinity coach for eight seasons and was named NCAA Division III coach of the year June 11. "It took a lot of time for our group to get the experience and the ability to go after it and make it a reality. I was just excited to see how happy they were and how proud their parents were."

The national champion is determined by a points system based on two races. Trinity had finished second to Bates in the second varsity race. The combination of a runner-up finish in the that race and a victory in the first varsity gave Trinity 40 points.

Williams and Bates tied for second with 33 points. Wellesley (26) was fourth and Wesleyan (26) fifth. Ohio State was the Division I champion and Humboldt State the Division II champion.

Trinity, making its 12th consecutive appearance in the NCAA regatta, had finished sixth in 2011, fifth in 2012 and third last year. The Bantams entered this season with 16 seniors, including Lichtenfels, of Washington, D.C., and fellow captains Claire Barkin, of Weston, Mass., and Catherine Guariglia, of Glen Rock, N.J.

"We kind of knew we had something up our sleeves this year," Lichtenfels said. "We had a lot of philosophical discussions about the Trinity brand — who we are and what we stand for. It had always been the same story. Williams wins the national championship and Trinity is always there in the mix. This year, there was no question, it was about changing the story."

The team adopted the William Ernest Henley poem, "Invictus," as its inspiration. "My head is bloody, but unbowed," it reads, in part, and that passage, Lichtenfels said, "captured the feeling of crossing the finish line."

Ng, a Toronto native who rowed at Yale (Class of 2002), had four days to celebrate Trinity's victory. In early June, he headed to Berkeley, Cal., to work as an assistant coach with the USA U-23 national team. Ng will travel with the U-23 team for the world championships in Varese, Italy, July 23-27. If he ends up working with the senior national team for the world championships Aug. 24-31 in Amsterdam, he'll return to Hartford one day before Trinity is set to take the water again in preparation for the fall season.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," Ng said, laughing. "Things have been moving really quickly, but I'm just trying to take advantage of every opportunity to become a better coach, test out my coaching chops, get some more experience. Seeing rowing on a higher level helps you become a better teacher."

Ng coached Trinity to five regatta victories over the fall and spring seasons, including the New England championships May 3 in Worcester, Mass. The Bantams were disappointed to finish third at the ECAC championships, also in Worcester, May 11 and they didn't open the NCAA championships with the best first varsity heat race on May 30, a Friday.

That night, Ng explained to his rowers where they would stand and what it would take. He cited the unpredictable nature of the Division I races he had watched and told the Bantams two things: that they'd be trailing with 500 meters remaining and that it was time to change the story.

Trinity was in a comfortable place for the first 1,500 meters and then exploded down the stretch, like a champagne bottle shaking for four years, to win. As Trinity made progress, coxswain Gwendolyn Schoch was yelling to rowers, reminding them all of their progress and where they stood.

"It just validated the plan and gave us this unstoppable confidence," Lichtenfels said. "We had built an incredible aerobic pace and our fitness was never questioned, so we could just focus on our rowing and our technique. You have to know your race so well. Rowing is not about a response to others. We knew we were moving and we were not going to stop. Really, as cliche as it sounds, it was a storybook ending."